based on: The White Crane Institute's 'Gay Wisdom', Gay Birthdays, Gay For Today, Famous GLBT, glbt-Gay Encylopedia, Today in Gay History, Wikipedia, and more …
1853 – Cecil Rhodes, South African politician, founder of Rhodesia born (d.1902); Like Carnegie, Nobel and many other multimillionaires who made their fortunes through the blood of others and are remembered today for the good that has lived on after them in bequests and charities and edifices that their money endowed, Cecil Rhodes is remembered for the scholarships to Oxford that bear his name. Although most people think that Carnegie is a hall and Nobel is a prize, it is less difficult to forget Rhodes' South African background, not if one has read a newspaper at any time during the past 50 years.
Rhodes was the owner of the Kimberley diamond mines, which he had expanded by expropriating the land of the Matabeles by trickery and was an active force in South African politics, where, to the chagrin of his native England, he was favorably disposed to the Boers. Many of today's problems in South Africa had their foundations laid during the time that Rhodes was the virtual dictator.
One of the grounds for selection as a Rhodes Scholar that has almost made it impossible for most "grinds" to apply is Rhodes insistence that a candidate have a "fondness for and success in manly outdoor sports, such as football and cricket." One wonders whether Rhodes homosexuality had anything to do with this requirement, or whether such athletic prowess was simply another demonstration of the benevolent superiority of the Anglo-Saxon race.
Rhodes never married, pleading "I have too much work on my hands" and saying that he would not be a dutiful husband. Some writers and academics have suggested that Rhodes may have been homosexual.
The scholar Richard Brown observed: "there is still the simpler but major problem of the extraordinarily thin evidence on which the conclusions about Rhodes are reached. Rhodes himself left few details... Indeed, Rhodes is a singularly difficult subject... since there exists little intimate material - no diaries and few personal letters."
Brown also comments: "On the issue of Rhodes' sexuality... there is, once again, simply not enough reliable evidence to reach firm, irrefutable conclusions. It is inferred, but not proved, that Rhodes was homosexual and it is assumed (but not proved) that his relationships with men were sometimes physical. Neville Pickering is described as Rhodes' lover in spite of the absence of decisive evidence."
Rhodes was close to Pickering; he returned from negotiations for Pickering's 25th birthday in 1882. On that occasion, Rhodes drew up a new will leaving his estate to Pickering. Two years later, Pickering suffered a riding accident. Rhodes nursed him faithfully for six weeks, refusing even to answer telegrams concerning his business interests. Pickering died in Rhodes' arms, and at his funeral Rhodes was said to have wept with fervor.
His successor was Henry Latham Currey, the son of an old friend, who had become Rhodes's private secretary in 1884. When Currey got engaged in 1894, Rhodes was deeply mortified and their relationship split
Rhodes also remained close to Leander Starr Jameson after the two had met in Kimberley, where they shared a bungalow. In 1896 Earl Grey came to give Rhodes bad news. Rhodes instantly jumped to the conclusion that Jameson, who was ill, had died. On learning that his house had burnt down he commented, "Thank goodness. If Dr. Jim had died, I should never have got over it." Jameson nursed Rhodes during his final illness, was a trustee of his estate and residuary beneficiary of his will, which allowed him to continue living in Rhodes' mansion after his death. Rhodes' secretary, Jourdan, who was present shortly after Rhodes' death said, "Jameson was fighting against his own grief ... No mother could have displayed more tenderness towards the remains of a loved son".
Jameson died in England in 1917, but after the war in 1920 his body was transferred to a grave beside that of Rhodes on Malindidzimu Hill or World's View, a granite hill in the Matopo National Park 40 km south of Bulawayo.
1889 – Born: Jean Cocteau, prolific French poet, novelist, critic, essayist, artist, and film maker (d.1963). Paris cafes, boulevards, theatres, salons, galleries, and lovers provided Cocteau a lifetime of education and entertainment. The ballet brought him into contact with Nijinsky and Sergei Diaghilev, who in 1912 demanded of the youth: 'Astonish me.'
Taking this advice to heart, Cocteau began an unending quest for the new. He met and worked with Amedeo Modigliani, Guillaume Apollinaire, Max Jacob, Pablo Picasso, Igor Stravinsky, Erik Satie, Andre Gide and a host of other literary, artistic, and musical innovators. By the 1950s he had managed to be part of four avant-gardes.
As a young man, Cocteau had sought collaborations with older men such as Eduoard de Max or Igor Stravinsky but soon he found what he called his 'enfants', a series of younger lovers and collaborators.
In 1937, Jean Marais, a young actor, joined Cocteau, who spurred him to become a matinee idol of French cinema. Marais, who allowed himself to be moulded in Cocteau's image, inspired the writer to become a filmmaker and scriptwriter. Today, Cocteau is best remembered for his cinema. He has been recognised as a pioneer in film - he was significant in introducing Surrealism - a word coined to describe his Ballet Russes work Parade (1917) - into film and later was an influence on French New Wave cinema, and his films continue to inspire viewers and other film-makers.
Cocteau is best known for Les enfants terribles (1929), his 1948 play Les parents terribles, his film of Beauty and the Beast (1946) and his stylish and iconic line drawings.
He struggled with an opium addiction for most of his adult life - searching for a higher consciousness - and was openly gay, though he had a few brief and complicated affairs with women. He died from a heart attack aged 74, within a few hours of hearing of the death of his friend, Edith Piaf.
Hoogen and Heine in front of Cafe Megalomania
1947 – Hans-Peter Hoogen (né Johannes-Peter Hoogen) is a German gay activist and proprietor of the Frankfurt restaurant "Café Megalomania". Hessian Prime Minister Roland Koch awarded him the Hessian Order of Merit on ribbon in 2005 as the first gay activist.
Hoogen grew up as a Catholic farmer's son on the Lower Rhine. His move to Frankfurt am Main in 1971 marked a personal turning point - he had a girlfriend in the first semesters of his law studies in MĂĽnster; in Frankfurt he was became only interested in young men.
In the autumn of 1971 he joined the Frankfurt "Red Cell Gay". There was little interest in the leftist student movement in the concerns of homosexuals, and pronounced macho was more socially acceptable there.
Hoogen and Hans-Jurgen Heine set up a gastronomic business with the “Cafe megalomania” that opened in December 1978. The pub is still one of the popular and multiple award-winning restaurants in Frankfurt.
Hoogen also campaigned publicly for the civil partnership: in August 1992, he kissed Fritz, his boyfriend at the time, in front of the Römer town hall in Frankfurt so deeply that the photo of the two was seen throughout the country.
In 1996 he founded "40 plus", a forum for older gay men, which offers discussion evenings on the subject of aging as a gay man and leisure activities to counteract the loneliness of older gays.
In 2001, Hoogen played a key role in bringing about the city's "Round Table on the Situation of Lesbians and Gays in Frankfurt". There he was one of the spokesmen for the gay members of the round table and campaigned for the recognition of the interests of older lesbians and gays in work with the elderly. Hoogen has made a significant contribution to the nationwide discussion of the situation of homosexual people in need of care and is also committed to the development of new projects and structures in the field of care for the elderly.
In the early 1980s, Hoogen began to campaign politically for support against the immune deficiency disease AIDS. Hoogen lost a large number of friends of the same age. "I hardly know gay men of the same age," said Hoogen in a newspaper interview. He has actively supported the work of AIDS-Hilfe Frankfurt since it was founded in 1985, including five years on the board.
In 1989, Hoogen and friends co-founded the initiative group memorial homosexual persecution (IMH), which succeeded in setting up the “Frankfurter Engel” by the sculptor Rosemarie Trockel in 1994, and renaming the square between Schäfergasse and Alter Gasse to “Klaus-Mann-Platz” in 1995.
1970 – Wayne Besen is an American gay rights advocate. He is a former investigative journalist for WABI-TV, a former spokesman for the Human Rights Campaign, and the founder of Truth Wins Out. Besen came out to his parents before starting his Truth Wins Out Organization. After coming out to his parents, they bought him an ex-gay DVD that could supposedly hypnotize people and turn them straight. It was that and the invitation by President George W. Bush of ex-gay leader Alan Chambers to the White House that led him to start the Truth Wins Out organization.
Besen has interviewed hundreds of former and current "ex-gays", and is an outspoken critic of organizations such as Homosexuals Anonymous.
Besen announced on his truthwinsout.org website that he got married to his boyfriend of five years Jamie Brundage on December 8, 2011 in the City Hall of Burlington, VT.
In September 2000, Besen photographed ex-gay activist John Paulk, then Chairman of Exodus International, in a Washington D.C. gay bar called Mr. P's. Paulk said he was simply there to use the washroom, but Besen and other witnesses allege he was drinking and flirting for over 20 minutes. Besen went public with the story, and wrote about it in his book Anything But Straight: Unmasking the Scandals and Lies Behind the Ex-Gay Myth. The book was nominated for two Lambda Literary Awards in 2003.Besen's photograph of Paulk in September 2000 (and the subsequent release of the story) was instrumental in the ultimate removal of Paulk as Chairman of Exodus International. Exodus International was a major organization in the "Ex-gay movement" until it was disbanded in June 2013. As noted by The Washington Post in October 2002, "John Paulk had been the most famous success story of the Christian ex-gay movement, which seeks to persuade gay men and lesbians to accept Jesus and renounce homosexuality. He had appeared on 60 Minutes, Oprah and the cover of Newsweek."
In June 2013, Exodus International reversed its positions on reparative therapy, apologized to the gay community for the "trauma" and "hurt" the organization had wreaked on them, and disbanded the organization.
1985 – François Landriault-Barbeau, known professionally as François Arnaud, is a Canadian film and television actor. He is best known for his work as Cesare Borgia on Showtime's period drama series The Borgias, Manfred Bernardo on NBC's Midnight, Texas, and Tommy Castelli on UnReal.
Arnaud was born and raised in Montreal, Quebec. In 2007, Arnaud trained at the Conservatoire d'art dramatique in Montreal.
Arnaud started his career in his home country by landing a role in a comedy series called Taxi 0-22 and guest starring in several other Canadian shows. Later he became known for his performance as Cesare Borgia in the Showtime series The Borgias. He also starred as Antonin Rimbaud in the French-Canadian film I Killed My Mother, directed by Xavier Dolan. Arnaud received a VFCC Award for Best Supporting Actor in a Canadian Film for the role.
He portrayed Oscar in the NBC drama series Blindspot. Arnaud currently stars in Midnight, Texas, portraying the role of a troubled psychic, Manfred Bernardo.
On 20 September 2020, Arnaud came out as bisexual on his Instagram.
1985 – François Landriault-Barbeau, known professionally as François Arnaud, is a Canadian film and television actor. He is best known for his work as Cesare Borgia on Showtime's period drama series The Borgias, Manfred Bernardo on NBC's Midnight, Texas, and Tommy Castelli on UnReal.
Arnaud was born and raised in Montreal, Quebec. In 2007, Arnaud trained at the Conservatoire d'art dramatique in Montreal.
Arnaud started his career in his home country by landing a role in a comedy series called Taxi 0-22 and guest starring in several other Canadian shows. Later he became known for his performance as Cesare Borgia in the Showtime series The Borgias. He also starred as Antonin Rimbaud in the French-Canadian film I Killed My Mother, directed by Xavier Dolan. Arnaud received a VFCC Award for Best Supporting Actor in a Canadian Film for the role.
He portrayed Oscar in the NBC drama series Blindspot. Arnaud currently stars in Midnight, Texas, portraying the role of a troubled psychic, Manfred Bernardo.
On 20 September 2020, Arnaud came out as bisexual on his Instagram.
"Without a doubt, stigmas of indecisiveness, infidelity, deception and trendiness are still clinging to bisexuality. But here's the thing. Silence has the perverse effect of perpetuating those stereotypes, making bi guys invisible, and leading people to doubt that we even exist. No wonder it's still a chore to acknowledge bisexuality without getting into lengthy explanations."
He concluded by writing, "labels are frustrating and words, imperfect.""I've always considered myself bisexual," he said. "Not disloyal. Not ashamed. Not invisible."
He concluded by writing, "labels are frustrating and words, imperfect."
"I've always considered myself bisexual," he said. "Not disloyal. Not ashamed. Not invisible."
1985 – Megan Rapinoe is an American professional soccer midfielder who currently plays for Olympique Lyonnais in the French League and is a member of the United States women's national soccer team. She is widely known for her crafty style of play and her precise cross to Abby Wambach which tied the game in the 122nd minute of the 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup quarterfinals against Brazil. She scored 3 goals and tallied a team-high 4 assists to lead the United States to a gold medal in the 2012 Summer Olympics.
On July 2, 2012, Rapinoe came out as a lesbian in an interview with Out magazine. Rapinoe confirmed that she had been dating Australian soccer player Sarah Walsh for three years. After approximately five years together, Rapinoe and Walsh ended their relationship in 2013. Rapinoe has since been dating Sub Pop recording artist Sera Cahoone. Rapinoe and Cahoone announced their engagement in August 2015.
On November 10, 2012, Rapinoe was given the Board of Director's Award by the Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Center.
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